The present invention relates to an operating system and operating method that enables the setting of operating levels in a control device for a fabrication apparatus such as a semiconductor fabrication apparatus or a liquid crystal display substrate fabrication apparatus.
In general, the operations of a control device for any of various types of fabrication apparatus are required to cover a wide range including simple operations based on a set sequence, manual operations for modifying or adjusting the control mode, and modification of the control program. In a batch-processing type of thermal treatment apparatus, which is one of the devices used in the fabrication of semiconductor devices, the operations include normal running, an on/off operation for halting the apparatus, modification of the process conditions such as gas flow rate and pressure, manual manipulation of the semiconductor wafer conveyor system, and modification of the method used to transfer data to a supervisory computer.
To enable these operations in the prior art, a front surface of the thermal processing apparatus (in this example) is provided with a touch panel that comprises areas corresponding to switch portions and a numeric keypad that are controlled by software, or switch portions that are physical hardware components. With such a touch panel, for example, the configuration is such that a subsequent screen is displayed when a switch portion on the screen is pressed. The user sees either the switch portions on the touch panel or the physical switch panel and activates various operations such as modifications by selecting a switch portion corresponding to each operation to be performed.
The turning on and off of the apparatus and emergency stop can be performed by an ordinary operator, but operations in addition to that range of operations set for the operator, such as setting the running conditions and performing running maintenance, are performed by an apparatus (process) engineer. In addition to the range of operations set for such engineers, there are more detailed operations such as functional settings and maintenance that are performed by a service engineer. Thus the operating levels are divided into several hierarchical steps. There is also password input and simple two-state switching between "yes" and "no" choices, performed by pressing keys.
However, in a conventional control device for a fabrication apparatus, such as a semiconductor fabrication apparatus, all of the normal operating functions are available to users and moreover the device can be operated by an unspecified number of users. Thus there is a danger that a certain user could mistakenly exceed the range of operations set originally for a user of that level. If that should happen, the smooth running of the apparatus could be impeded or, depending on the seriousness of the error, the apparatus could break down. If, for example, an ordinary operator who has no knowledge of the operating process were to perform an operation concerning the modification of the process conditions by mistake, the process conditions could be disturbed and thus the wafers will not be subjected to the predetermined thermal processing. As a result, the wafers might have to be destroyed or, if there is no suitable process engineer of a higher level close by to return the process conditions to their original settings, the operation will have to be halted.
Similarly, if an apparatus engineer should exceed the range of operations set for such engineers and perform a manual operation to revise teaching that had already been installed for the apparatus, the apparatus will have to wait for adjustment by a service engineer of an even higher level. Furthermore, if the control program or data should be damaged, the user of the apparatus will have to ask the manufacturer of the apparatus to send out a specialist called a supervisor. Such problems can be prevented beforehand by warning all the relevant users, but these warnings cannot be guaranteed to be remembered in the future and thus the fact is it is not possible to completely prevent such problems.